Our towns and cities need not have developed in the ways that they have. Brave utopian ideals often underpin how urban environments are built and operate. However these ambitions commonly reflect the powerful, prioritise technical solutions over experience, and frequently fail to be fully realised. Given the significance of the urban environment – by 2050, the world’s population will be more than 9 billion and around 70 per cent of people will live in metropolitan areas – we need to understand how cities develop, the implications for society, the economy and the environment, and the potential for change.

Join the Urban Institute (UI) at the University of Sheffield for this public launch event, which draws together the insights of two leading urban researchers; Professors Simon Marvin (UI) and Maarten Hajer (Urban Futures Studio, Utrecht University, The Netherlands). Discussion will explore the relevance and power of imagined cities, and the capacity of the city and its citizens to (re)shape urban life in more productive, equitable, and sustainable directions.